Windows 8, to put bluntly, has been anything but a model of success. The platform’s struggle to gain consumer recognition, the Surface tablets’ noticeable price cuts, and Steve Ballmer’s early-announced retirement are all evidence pointing towards a relatively difficult future for the Redmond company. Fortunately, in various of the world’s developed regions, there’s still be a bit of hope for Microsoft’s platform: A recent research report from Kantar Worldpanel —which collected a series of consumer data from May to July 2013— revealed that Windows 8 smartphones account for approximately 8.2 % of the total smartphone sales in Europe*, the highest it has ever been in the region. In Latin American countries such as Mexico, smartphones running on the Microsoft platform has been shown to be equally popular, with about 11.6% of the market.

The majority of the Windows 8 customers surveyed, notably, are neither former iOS nor Android users, but rather those who have previously been accustomed to using feature phones. Considering how a good number of people in the world –even those living in developed countries– are still deciding on their first smartphone device, the ability to appeal to first-timers should prove to be especially useful for Microsoft in the future.

Note: the five European countries studied in the abovementioned poll include the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.